These life cycle books for preschoolers are perfect all year long. They’ll help you bring your life cycle lesson plans to life!
Fill your book basket with picture books perfect for your life cycle activities for preschool. You’ll find general information books as well as species-specific books.
All of these nonfiction picture books will help kids learn more about the life cycle of living things.
Life Cycle Books for Preschoolers
Below, I’ve featured just a handful of life cycle books that will help your preschoolers learn how living things grow.
You should be able to find them at your local library or bookstore. If you can’t find them locally, you can click each image cover to purchase them on Amazon.
What is a Life Cycle?
Introduces the life cycles of plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, fish, birds, mammals, and humans, discussing birth, growth, parental care, and reproduction
Watch a tiny tadpole grow into an adult frog in this book full of facts and photographs. Learn what tadpoles eat, how they survive, and how they transform into frogs.
A True Book: Incredible Plants series introduces young investigative readers to many types of unusual and typical plants from photosynthesis, how they grow, and ways they survive in extreme environments.
How do plants grow? Explore the journey from seed to sapling and beyond. Children have lots of questions about the world around them, and this book helps them discover many amazing and wonderful scientific facts about nature.
Discover the amazing stages of different life cycles and learn all about your favourite species with this stunning series. From plants and pets to exotic animals, readers will soon learn how different species are born, grow up and reproduce
Discover which creatures are at the top and bottom of three river food chains, and learn what happens at each stage of their life cycle. At the end of each spread, use the picture clue to guess which river predator is waiting to pounce!
Intended for children of ages 6-12, this book looks at the life of this ancient marsupial and explains, among other things, the dangers faced by koalas.
Intended for ages 6-12, The Life Cycle of a Salmon looks at the growth of a salmon from egg to adult, and provides children with a thorough account of the five distinct stages of a salmon’s life cycle: egg, alevin, fry, smolt, and adult.
Looks at the growth of a flower from seed to the time it is a mature plant capable of producing new seeds. This book features illustrations, photographs and easy-to-read text that help young readers learn: how seeds are formed and what different types of seeds look like; the various ways flowers are pollinated; and more.
Growing and Changing: Let’s Investigate Life Cycles
In this title, readers will investigate and discover a range of animal life cycles. How does a tadpole become a frog? In what ways do lambs, puppies, baby mice, woodpecker chicks, and caterpillars change and grow? And how do animals care for their young?
With the able assistance of Thing 1 and Thing 2 — and a fleet of Rube Goldbergian vehicles — the Cat in the Hat examines the various parts of plants, seeds, and flowers; basic photosynthesis and pollination; andseed dispersal.
Ms. Frizzle’s class is growing a beautiful garden. But, Phoebe’s plot is empty. Her flowers are back at her old school! So, the class climbs aboard the Magic School Bus. And, of course, the kids don’t only go back to Phoebe’s school, but they go inside one of Phoebe’s flowers! Follow the kids’ adventure and learn how living things grow.
Ladybugs spend part of their life cycle as larva. Every day a ladybug larva eats about 30 tiny green insects called aphids. Young children will watch a ladybug go from egg to adult.
Which of these books about life cycles will you read first?
Round Out Your Unit with These Activities
I love this Life Cycle Board! This graphic organizer is an awesome visual tool to help children sequence the Life Cycle of plants and animals. The circular shape of the board and the arrows are designed to help children understand Circle of Life and grasp the concept of “Cycle”.
Learn how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. This felt board set shows a pictorial display of a butterfly’s life. With 6 stages and detailed felt pictures this set works well within a lesson on caterpillars, cocoons, butterflies, insects, how insects help our lives, life cycles or gardening.
Tara is the brains behind Homeschool Preschool, where her journey from preschool and public school teacher to homeschooling mom of three fuels her passion for early childhood education. With a blend of expertise and firsthand experience, Tara’s writings offer practical tips and engaging resources to support families in creating meaningful learning adventures at home.
